US court says Iran, Syria should pay damages for terror attacks in Israel

A US court has ruled that Iran and Syria are liable for compensation for American citizens wounded and killed in a series of attacks by Palestinians in Israel, including the killing of a US Army veteran.

Judge Randolph D. Moss in US District Court for the District of Columbia rules that Americans wounded and killed in seven attacks carried out by Palestinians were eligible for damages from Iran and Syria because they provided “material support” to terror groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The court has not yet determined the amount of the damages. The order was posted online Sunday by the federal courts.

Taylor Force, murdered in Israel by a Palestinian terrorist in March 2016, gave his name to the Taylor Force Act, legislation proposing to halt US aid to the Palestinian Authority until the latter stops paying stipends to terrorists and their families. (Facebook)

Syria, Iran and the Iranian Ministry of Information of Security, all named as defendants in the civil case, did not take part in the proceedings.

Collecting the damages will be a challenge. American courts have ordered the government of Iran to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages to families of Americans killed by Palestinians before. But since Iran and the US have no formal diplomatic relations, collecting the damages has remained elusive.

Taylor Force, a US Army veteran, was studying in Israel in 2016 when he was stabbed to death by a Palestinian assailant in Tel Aviv. Congress later approved the Taylor Force Act, which withholds funding to the Palestinians that it said was used to reward the families of attackers.

— Agencies